CLEARWATER, Fla. — In normal times for Kyle Kendrick, he’d be putting extra emphasis on workdays such as this one, which means he’d be sweating out every pitch. Instead, Kendrick entered into a Grapefruit League start against the New York Yankees Tuesday logging an unimpressive spring tag (0-2, 9.00 ERA), but also carrying a much lighter attitude.

To that end, he promptly responded with six solid innings of work, allowing two hits and one unearned run while striking out three as the Phillies beat whatever group of players were out there on Bright House Field wearing Yankees uniforms, 4-1.

“I felt good out there,” said Kendrick, whose spring ERA slipped to 5.12 with the win. “Best I felt all spring, really.”

And if you don’t believe him, just ask his manager.

“He looked good,” Charlie Manuel said of Kendrick. “He threw good. He mixed his pitches up good. He changed speeds good. His location was good. He threw good.”

And if that wasn’t impressive enough...

“He was aggressive,” Manuel said. “He looked like he wanted to pitch.”

Mentally, Kendrick seems in prime condition. Since first joining the Phillies in 2007, his career has been told in various tales of survival, frustration and perseverance. Now 28, he entered this spring finally having all but secured a spot in the starting rotation. That has enabled Kendrick to treat spring stats the way they should be treated — secondary to developing his weapons.

“I think he’s been able to work his way into it a little easier,” pitching coach Rich Dubee said of Kendrick. “He came in here not having to be so concerned about having to have big results right away. He’s gotten his sinker and change-up going and as we’ve gone on added the cutter. I think that’s probably helped.”

Kendrick was employing his sinker to great effect against these depleted Yankees, who started the game with Derek Jeter backing out of a scheduled start at shortstop due to ankle soreness. He breezed early before making a throwing error after fielding a bunt in the fourth. That and an Ichiro Suzuki double got the Yanks a short-lived lead, but one of Kendrick’s best moments came just after that, stranding Suzuki by striking out Kevin Youkilis with a 2-2 sinker.

“If I can consistently keep it down, I’ll get some swings and misses,” Kendrick said. “I just want to keep that pitch down. It’s a good count to throw that.”

Not that you haven’t heard that from and about Kendrick before. It’s just that perhaps he can be a little more believable now.

••• Aside from the fourth inning, Kendrick’s scariest moment came in the third, when New York’s second baseman Corban Joseph, a Trenton Thunder alum, cracked a line drive that seemed to target Kendrick’s nose. Instead, he caught it, then doubled Yankees catcher Chris Stewart off third base.

“Caught it” doesn’t quite describe the hair-raising way Kendrick used his glove for salvation.

“Yeah, he hit it good,” Kendrick said. “I think it was going at my face. I don’t know, I’m glad it hit my glove. It wasn’t a bad pitch; a fast sinker. It was coming back in and the kid put a good swing on it. I was able to put my glove up ... thank God.”

••• Ryan Howard and Domonic Brown continued their mini home-run chase. Brown went deep to right on a 1-2 pitch to start the Phils’ half of the fourth, and Howard turned on a pitch by Yankees lefty Josh Spence for a homer in the seventh. Brown has six on the spring, Howard five.

What struck everyone about the Howard longball was that it came off a left-hander, something Manuel expects to see more of this season, certainly better than the .173 he fashioned against lefties last season.

“He’s been staying in better, staying in the middle of the field against them,” Manuel said of Howard. “He’s staying on the ball much better, and he’s following the ball. He hasn’t been missing them by three feet.”

••• NOTES: The Phillies reassigned pitcher Rodrigo Lopez to their minor league camp. ... Cole Hamels gets the start Thursday night in Fort Myers against the Boston Red Sox. ... Jeter was supposed to play at short, but felt what was termed stiffness in the front portion of his surgically repaired left ankle in warmups. “Maybe if I wasn’t told it was going to happen, then I would be concerned,” Jeter told reporters before the game. “But from everything that I’ve been told from the doctors, it’s normal. It’s just stiff. Stiffness. But once again, it’s not in the part that I broke.” He said he still feels confident he’ll be able to start the season on time.